Back in November you may have read our blog, Frisco – The City That Burns Bodies where we told you about local residents taking to Citizens Input at the November 21st city council meeting to discuss their concerns about the new Ridgeview West Memorial Park Crematory owned by Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow, Inc.
Even though the Texas Open Meeting Act states “the governmental body (AKA City of Frisco) MAY NOT DELIBERATE on any item from public comment that is not on the agenda the city continues to break the rule, meeting after meeting. The Act clearly states what they can do which is (1) make a statement of fact regarding the item; (2) make a statement concerning the policy regarding the item; or (3) propose that the item be placed on a future agenda.
At the city council meeting that night Cheney opens Citizens Input by acknowledging the large number of citizens who are there to speak. Then he continues, “so the speakers have the benefit of understanding all the facts the staff has a prepared a presentation,” followed by Jonathan Hubbard, Assistant Director of Development Services who took to the podium. Then RICHARD ABERNATHY, THE CITY ATTORNEY speaks about the regulation and omissions from a crematorium, and this is where the problem begins, but we will get back to that.
Next Cheney asks Jonathan to confirm that this crematory was approved before the neighborhood was ever contemplated and that all this information has been available to the public on the city’s website since it had been approved. STOP, JEFF CHENEY! REGULAR PEOPLE who are considering buying a home don’t go research the city’s planning and development that has been approved nearby over the last 10 years. As far as the city website, it is NOT USER FRIENDLY for the REGULAR PEOPLE to find information and most are not going to pay $90 for a PIR. Hell Sir, most people don’t even know what key words to look for in the search tools to find such information.
All in all, after opening citizens input at 40:09, the city held the floor over 10 minutes to “school residents’ which ended at 51:13. FYI, that is not a statement that is called a full presentation to pre-empt citizens at public input. Then NOT SHOCKINGLY, Bobblehead Bill Woodard mentions they have over 10 cards for public input and in response to the city’s policies and to be respectful of everyone’s time, he proposed citizens input should be cut from 5 min per person to 3 min per person.
THAT’S RIGHT FOLKS, they don’t want to hear from you the CITIZEN who Cheney says is at the top of theCITY’S ORGANIZATIONAL CHART! They can use up 10+ minutes of Citizens Input, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE BREAKING THE OPEN MEETING ACT BY HAVING A DISCUSSION ABOUT AN ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA, but you SIR/MADAM need to hurry up and get it done in 3 minutes or less.
At Frisco Chronicles we have told you over and over about how the city likes to school or educate us stupid citizens, we have told you about how they are breaking the open meeting act, we have told you how they are withholding PIR requests and delaying PIR requests. Just last week we told you how the city HR Department forged documents and spent $88,000 to do a needless investigation.
Well now, let’s get back to earlier where we mentioned a problem with the City Attorney, Richard Abernathy speaking. Why is it a problem? The City Attorney is DOUBLE DIPPING and has a major conflict-of-interest. What could that CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST BE? Well, did you know his firm represents THE CREMATORY! Yep, HOLD YOUR TOUPEE’S FOLKS, the city attorney’s law firm Abernathy, Roeder, Boyd & Hullett located on Redbud Blvd in McKinney represented Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow, Inc., A Texas Corporation in a lawsuit against The State of Texas in 2021. While the case is closed today, the fact that they represented the corporation in which the citizens are there to speak against probably means HE SHOULD HAVE RECUSED HIMSELF! Whose interest is he looking out for? Not the citizens! His job is to protect his clients, which in this case are the City of Frisco and Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow, Inc.
Frisco Residents should be beyond angry at this point, they should be done right pissed off! The city continues to waste tax dollars, put developers before residents, break rules and treat citizens as if they are stupid. When will it stop?
Other References
NBCDFW: Controversy over new crematorium in Frisco
Local residents near Frisco Springs took to the city council meeting tonight to speak at citizen input regarding the new Ridgeview West Memorial Park Crematory that is currently under construction. We give them props for wanting to be heard and they probably assumed that the council gives 2 shXts about their concerns. However they quickly learned … THEY DON’T!
Texas Open Meeting Act notes that “citizen participation” period, also known as “public comment,” is a time slot set aside on the agenda for citizens to address the council on any subject not on the evenings agenda. Councils can limit the length of time any one citizen may speak based on the number of people signed up to speak. Because public comment is about items “NOT ON THE AGENDA” the governmental body MAY NOT DELIBERATE on any item that is not on the agenda. What can the governmental body do? They can (1) make a statement of fact regarding the item; (2) make a statement concerning the policy regarding the item; or (3) propose that the item be placed on a future agenda.
As usual the city council continues to break the rules and violate the law by commenting and engaging in ongoing dialogue at citizens input. Tonight they even went as far as preparing a full presentation to “school” the residents on the history of this land. Just so you know, that is there way of saying we are smarter than you! Again, this is not an agenda item so no presentation by the city should have been done, prepared or presented on a NON-AGENDA ITEM. After doing their dog and pony show for 10 minutes, they told tax paying concerned residents you only get 3 minutes to speak instead of 5 minutes. Why? Well Frisco Springs – they don’t care about you. Just like they don’t care about Cobb Hill or Rockhill Residents. Mayor Jeff Cheney has no worries because his current home overlooks the Cottonwood Creek Greenbelt and his PGA lot is a ESPN lot that overlooks the golf course.
What do Crematories do? Well according to the TCEQ they can cremate human remains, embryonic and fetal tissue remains (including umbilical cords, placentas, gestational sacs, blood or bodily fluids from the same pregnancy and appropriate containers. Crematoriums have to register so we found Ridgeview West Memorial Park on the entity search tool. You can also find out the State of Texas Health and Safety Code for Crematories here.
According to a study done by the University of Texas Health Science Center they found that close proximity to sources of mercury releases were associated with increases in learning disabilities and autism. According to the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health asked the question, Do crematories emit harmful pollutants of public health concern? Cremation is a combustion process whereby a casket and human remains (or animal remains in pet crematoria) are incinerated at a high temperature in a closed chamber. Types of emissions include:
Organic pollutants: Compounds resulting from incomplete combustion processes or formed when organic compounds react with chlorine in materials such as plastics. These pollutants can include polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) amongst others;
Heavy metals: Mercury (Hg) arising from volatilization of Hg in dental amalgam in fillings and a small quantity of various metals in tissues of the individual, or personal memorial items included in the casket.
Do residents of Frisco Springs have the right to be concerned? Yes, of course! Even though me and the old lady plan to get cremated when we pass we had never considered the affects of that. Here is our question, the city has spent millions cleaning up the shXt from Exide near downtown so why would they not want to fight this with the residents. The land is valuable and I am sure the city could buy it and put something useful there. Heck, maybe they could make the animal people happy and put a shelter or adoption center there to help out CCAS. Do a survey of Frisco Springs Residents and ask if they would prefer (A) a crematorium that burns up dead bodies and other nasty crap or (B) a dog park or animal adoption center? My guess is they don’t want to “SEE DEAD PEOPLE!”
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